Paris climate summit: if not now, then when?

Nearly 200 countries were expected to agree on collective action to fight climate change in Copenhagen in 2009. For the first time, the United Nations claimed, countries were on the verge of reducing the greenhouse gas emissions. However hopes were buried during two weeks of misunderstanding and mistrust. 

Six years later, countries are poised to gather once again in an effort to reach a deal to halt climate change. Next week’s meeting in Paris will be the 21st annual UN climate summit and the pressure to reach an accord is higher than ever. Read more at http://www.theguardian.com/

How to win energy battle?

Ukraine is facing two existential crises: the war in the east and troubled economy. Now is the time for Ukraine to press hard on energy reform because Russia uses energy to exert influence over Ukraine and the energy sector has been a black hole of corruption in the country.
Ukraine is dangerously dependent on energy import - less than half of total gas consumed was extracted inside the country and the rest was imported from Russia. A majority of crude oil and oil products were imported from Russia and Belarus. Coal was the only source extracted inside the country in large enough quantities to supply the nation, but situation have dramatically changed since the beginning of the military conflict in Donbass. Read more at http://www.atlanticcouncil.org

Ukrainian government adopts framework for ESCO agreements

Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the model energy service agreement (ESA) in line with the new Law No. 327-VIII “On the Implementation of New Investment Opportunities, Ensuring Rights and Legitimate Interests of Individual Entrepreneurs for the Performance of Large-Scale Energy Sector Modernisation”, adopted by Parliament on 9 April 2015. Public institutions may now execute ESAs with private energy service companies (“ESCOs”) following the applicable public procurement procedures.
ESCOs will be paid for their services out of the funds saved by the customers due to the energy efficiency measures. Government intends  to implement international ESA practice, which is widely recognised as an efficient financial vehicle for funding energy efficiency programmes. Read more at http://www.cms-lawnow.com

E-book for Ukrainian entrepreneurs on doing business with partners from EU

EU Delegation to Ukraine supported publication of the new electronic book "Business Internationalisation and Entry to European Union Markets", which offers advice on how to find business partners in the EU, prepare to export and get financing.
This publication is based on the best international and Ukrainian practices and provides for a comprehensive presentation of export planning, exporting channels, export marketing and branding. It also discusses the opportunities for Ukrainian exporters to get support from Ukrainian and international institutions, and covers regulatory information related to food and agriculture as one of the fastest growing core sectors of Ukrainian economy. Read more at http://eeas.europa.eu

Ukraine's third quarter GDP advances 0.7% after 18 months of recession

The annual decline eased to 7 percent from 14.6 percent in the second quarter and as high as 17.2 percent in the first. A cease-fire in Ukraine’s 19-month conflict with pro-Russian militants has allowed companies to boost production and decrease pressure on the Hryvnia.
According to investment bank Dragon Capital, economy growth may only rebound by 1 percent to 2 percent in 2016. Reforms, including a crackdown on corruption, are key to further support from the IMF and other partners. Read more at http://www.bloomberg.com

Ukraine now is buying more natural gas from the EU than from Russia

The energy transport operator Eustream in Slovakia reports a rise in Ukrainian imports from the EU: 20.662 million cubic meters of gas on Nov. 8, 22.977 million cubic meters on Nov. 9 and 27.07 million cubic meters on Nov 10. Meanwhile Ukraine’s state-run Ukrtransgaz reports that Ukraine imported 42.303 million cubic meters of Russian gas on Nov. 7, 24.097 million cubic meters on Nov. 8 and only 10.069 million cubic meters on Nov. 9.
There are several independent traders that have been importing gas from EU members Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, according to the Association of Gas Traders of Ukraine. The average price of both EU and Russian gas imported to Ukraine in the third quarter of 2015 fell by $2 from the previous quarter to $226 per 1,000 cubic meters. Read more at http://oilprice.com

Businessman about bringing Ukraine's economy back to life

Bate C. Toms, who have been working in Ukraine for a long time, states, that  for quick recovery of its private sector Ukraine needs (1) to identify and facilitate foreign, as well as domestic, investment in sectors where significant economic growth is presently feasible, (2) to provide for political risk insurance for such investments, and (3) to ensure better rule of law protection in Ukraine for investment, principally by creating a legal ombudsman to stop abuses of law against investors and allow investors to feel secure legally. He considers irrigation farming, port and freight railways development, tourism, IT/software development, energy and financial sectors as priority areas for investments.
The legal ombudsman is to be an eminent jurist, like the legal ombudsman in Sweden where this institution was first used in the early twentieth century to address corruption in their courts.
Bate C. Toms had many years of oil and gas experience, including for U.S. and U.K. exploration and development, before coming to Ukraine, where he handled most of the initial legal work for Western investment in Ukrainian oil and gas projects.  Read more at www.kyivpost.com

EurActive: Poland wants EU to ban Nord Stream 2

According to Poland's incoming conservative Minister for EU Affairs, Konrad Szymański,plans to build the Nord Stream 2 pipeline "go far beyond matters of energy, because in our region of Europe, the gas trade has strategic consequences". He also pointed to the risk that a Russian monopoly on gas supplies to the EU could violate the bloc's competition rules.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk also blasted the Gazprom plan earlier this month, claiming it would cost his country $2 billion a year in lost revenue.He further argued the move would respectively deprive EU members Slovakia and Poland of $800 million and $300 million in revenue each year. 
In June, Russian energy giant Gazprom agreed with its western European partners - Anglo-Dutch Shell, Germany's E.ON, France's ENGIE and Austria's OMV - to build the second gas pipeline to Germany, bypassing conflict-torn Ukraine, but also its EU neighbour Poland.The pipeline under the Baltic Sea would have a capacity of 55 billion cubic metres per year and would double the flow of the existing Nord Stream pipeline currently linking the two countries.  Read more at http://www.euractiv.com

End of the Coal Age in Ukraine?

In 2013, with a share of 35.8% in the energy mix, coal was Ukraine’s most important primary energy source, followed by natural gas with 34.1% and nuclear with 18.9%. Coal in Ukraine was mainly used for power generation, the metallurgical industry and heating utilities. Total consumption, according to different statistics, was between 61 and 74 million tons (2012). Net imports amounted to around nine million tons.
Because of the conflict in Donbass, Ukraine has lost control over the coal heartlands of the country. Even regardless of the outcome of the conflict, mines are only able to survive with subsidies. In this situation the government should develop a phase-out strategy to make a transition to a sustainable energy economy - this is a conclusion of the report Towards the End of the Coal Age in Ukraine?, published with support of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung.  Read more at www.energypost.eu

Ukrainian reforms are in danger

Despite some reforms attempts  by a new generation of bureaucrats, Ukraine's economy remains unreformed. Taxes are oppressive but widely evaded, the shadow economy is growing and the regulatory climate for business has barely improved. The International Monetary Fund, the country's biggest source of hard currency recently revised this year's projection to an 11 percent decline.
Ukraine's justice system remains incredibly corrupt. The grip of oligarchs and a corrupt bureaucracy on what's left of the Ukrainian economy has proven too strong, the schemes too entrenched.Ukrainian civil society is stunted by these powerful vested interests. Unless the current political elite finds it in itself to clean up, Ukraine's history of violent regime change is probably not over yet. Read more at www.bloombergview.com

China is going to enter Ukrainian solar power market

A Ukrainian government has granted permission for China's state-run corporation CNBM to buy 10 Ukrainian solar units. The plants, in Odessa and Mykolayiv regions, were built by Activ Solar firm.
The share of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in Ukraine accounts for about 1.3 percent of the total. Read more at http://www.reuters.com/

Snapchat buys Ukrainian-developed mobile startup for 150 mln USD

The U.S.-based developer of mobile applications Snapchat has finalized the deal to buy a Ukrainian-developed mobile startup Looksery, which features a real time face-changing technology. The technology was launched in 2013 by a team of developers from Ukraine's southern city of Odessa and has since reached around 10 million downloads on different mobile platforms.
Last time the successful acquisition of a Ukrainian project was made in 2012, when Google Inc. bought Ukrainian facial recognition software Viewdle for about USD 45 million.  Read more at http://uatoday.tv

Ukraine as EU's partner in creating Energy Union

Vice-President of the European Commission Maros Sefcovic said during his speech in the Peterson Institute for International Economics that such countries as Ukraine, Moldova, the Eastern Balkan countries  can be EU's partners in creating Energy Union.
The Energy Union is an integrated program embracing a rage of legislative, administrative and technological solutions aimed at promoting the creation of a single European energy market, the creation of a full-scale energy infrastructure to ensure  decrease in foreign dependence. Read more at http://www.ukrinform.net